


Watching the Sun Go Down

by Duck_Life



Category: X-Force (Comics)
Genre: Apologies, Coming Out, Drinking & Talking, Friendship, Gen, aftermath of non-consensual kiss between friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 07:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17402201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Rictor apologizes to Tabitha for kissing her. While they're talking, she figures something out. Based on X-Force #26.





	Watching the Sun Go Down

Tabs finds Rictor sitting up on the rocky outcropping over their Camp Verde sleeping quarters. It looks like he climbed as high as he could go before he tuckered himself out. “Hey!” she yells, clambering up toward him, still kind of pissed off at him from earlier. You don’t just kiss a girl out of nowhere, especially not when she’s dating your team leader, _especially_ not when you’re supposed to be friends.

Ric’s working on the second beer in a six pack when she reaches him. Tabby drops down next to him on the rock. “You swipe those from Terry?”

“She has a drinking problem,” Ric says, staring off into the desert instead of looking at her. “I’m helping.”

“Lemme be a good Samaritan too, then,” she says, taking a beer from the pack and timebombing it open. Rictor rolls his eyes at the display of her powers but doesn’t say anything. “So, listen, I came up here to—”

“I’m sorry,” he says, still not looking at her. “I mean… I mean, I’m not just sayin’ it ’cause I know it’s what you came up here to hear, I’m sayin’ it ’cause I mean it. I shouldn’t’ve kissed you, that was a dick move.”

“It was.”

“I… I was…” he sighs, shoving his ball cap up on his head. “I dunno. I was pissed off at Sam for bein’ messed up about something he has every right to be messed up about. I just… I had to do _something_ and I did the wrong-ass thing. I’m really sorry, Tabitha.”

“Okay,” she says, sipping her beer. “Just don’t fuckin’ call me Tabitha.”

“Tabby Cat.”

“Shut the fuck up, Esteban.”

They drink in silence for a few moments, watching the sun get lower and paint Camp Verde orange.

“You know,” Tabs says, “you’re not the only one macking on people without their permission. You hear about Terry?”

“What about Terry?”

“She tried to kiss _Cable_ ,” Tabs says, making a face. “Bleugh! I mean, she was super drunk… as usual. I dunno if that’s an excuse, but.”

“Jeez,” Ric says.

“Yeah, looks like everyone’s kissin’ everyone. I think that’s what happens when you put a bunch of repressed teenagers in the middle of the desert.”

“I guess,” Ric says, holding his beer bottle up like he can hide his face. “Speaking of repressed teenagers. I, uh. I told Feral she should go ahead and make a move on Shatty.”

Tabs snorts. “You don’t gotta _tell_ that girl anything,” she points out. “If she were _really_ into Shattybuns and not just, like, hitting on him because she thinks it’s funny, she’d’a made a move by now.”

“I guess,” Rictor says again, sounding distracted now. Tabs follows his gaze to see that he’s watching Shatterstar out on the beam he set up, still doing his exercises even this late in the evening.

Tabs gives Rictor a weird look, but he doesn’t even see it. She shakes her head. “Ric, I don’t get you. You’re pickin’ fights with everyone, kissing your totally-hot-but-totally-not-into-you friend, antagonizing Maria. You’re… you’re all over the place, man. I mean, you’re acting like me when I had that stupid crush on Jamie Madr—”

The panicked look he gives her shuts her up, and she realizes that without really trying, she hit the nail on the head.

“You _like_ somebody.”

“Shut up.”

“Ohmigawd, you totally have the hots for someone on the team,” Tabs raves, practically bouncing. “Is it Terry? Oh man, is it Maria? It’s totally Maria, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yep, it’s Maria,” Rictor says, refusing to meet her eyes. “I’ve got it bad for Maria.”

“WOW. I did not peg you for a cat person,” Tabs crows, cackling. “That’s so funny. I mean, you know, you do you. I always kind of thought Beast was hot, so who’m I to judge? Really—” As she’s talking, Rictor shifts around on the rock, looking uncomfortable, and suddenly he makes a wrong move and slips. Tabs leaps forward and grabs his wrist, saving him from tumbling down the side of the outcropping.

And the look in his eyes, scraped raw and scared, has nothing to do with the fact that he almost fell.

Tabs helps him back up to a seated position, watching him closely. “It’s not Maria, is it?”

Rictor’s jaw works and he pulls his knees up, close to his chest. “No.” Shatterstar’s still down below them, practicing flips and maneuvers in that tight workout outfit, his muscles looking golden in the fading sunlight.

“Oh… _Ric_ ,” Tabby says, not sure how she’s supposed to respond. “Um… listen—”

“Don’t… d-d-don’t tell anybody, okay?” he says, his voice cracking in a way she hasn’t heard it since their X-Terminators days. “I mean… I mean, I’ll leave the team if I have to. I just… I can’t…”

“It’s okay,” she says, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder, thinking twice when she sees how messed up about this he is. “I’m not gonna… I mean, there’s nothing _wrong_ with it, Ric.”

He makes a strangled sort of sound that’s probably supposed to be a laugh. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious. Jesus, we’re _mutants_. What’s the point in hating someone ’cause of the way they’re born, right?”

“I’m serious too. _Don’t_ fucking tell anybody.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” she says, putting her hands up. “In fact, I’ll tell you an even bigger secret about _me_ so’s we’re even, okay?” He glances over at her, looking skeptical. “Here goes: ’Berto ate all my cereal so I put itching powder in his underwear drawer.”

“That… that’s… that’s _not a bigger secret, Tabs_.”

“Well, whatever,” she huffs. “Seriously, I promise I won’t tell anyone. But don’t kiss me again.”

“I won’t,” he promises. “Stupid idea anyway. Like… like I was tryin’ to hide.”

“From your big gay crush on Shatterstar?”

Rictor jumps like he’s been shocked. “Can you… can you not say that word?”

“ _Shatterstar Shatterstar Shatterstar_ ,” she says, teasing. “Oh wait you meant… aw, Ric. You don’t need to be, like, _ashamed_ or anything.”

“I’m just… not ready to deal with it, okay?” he says, picking at the label on his beer bottle. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Yeah, we can talk about something else,” she says. “Uhm… oh! The TV’s broken. It just keeps flicking between channels every three seconds.”


End file.
